Country in southern Europe. Christianity was introduced in Rome by SaintPeter the Apostle and SaintPaul the Apostle a few years after the Crucifixion, and was soon extended to all parts of Italy, with converts from all ranks of society, so that it was strongly established before the time of Constantine the Great. Milan, Aquileia, and Ravenna gained ecclesiastical importance, and synods were frequent during the 4th and 5th centuries, especially in Rome. Unity with Constantinople was broken by the Acacian schism (484 to 519) which foreshadowed the great Eastern Schism. After a period of occupation by the Goths, Italy again became part of the Roman Empire, subject to the Caesaro-papism and later the culpable neglect of the Byzantine rulers, until Pepin and Charlemagne were summoned by the popes to save Rome from the Lombards. Through the gifts of the German rulers, the generosity of the people, and the need of self defense, the States of the Church were established in Italy. In the second half of the 11th century arose the long conflict between the papacy and the German empire which had made use of the episcopal sees in northern and central Italy to maintain its claim to dominion over the peninsula. With the support of the Lombard League of Cities and the Normans in the south, the papacy was victorious in the first phase of the struggle. The second phase, arising from the union of the imperial crown with the royal crown of Sicily, resulted in the ruin of the Hohenstaufens. In the 13th century, religious life was strengthened by the foundation of the mendicant orders and the rise of the great universities, as Bologna and Padua, under the patronage of the papacy which reached the height of its temporal power. In the following century, with removal of the papal residence to Avignon, France, Italy became the prey of despots who dominated for selfish ends the prevailing anarchy. Not until the Western Schism ended in 1417 did the Papal States recognize papal dominion, under PopeMartin V.